Confession of a Banker

November 22, 2010

In have a confession to make, nothing juicy, nothing to do with the crisis, not even with OUG 50. It is just that I realized I don’t seem to be living up to some of the expectations about a banker. Too often do I hear that “all banks care about is to make short term [...]

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Too Many Bank Branches But Which Ones ?

November 12, 2010

Recently I wrote an article for Ziarul Financiar about the high fixed interest rate margins in Romania. I decided to write this as a contribution to a discussion about interest rates that was becoming increasingly populist. I ended the article with the suggestion that we should have a more professional discussion about what can be [...]

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Change of Address

November 4, 2010

Just a normal day in an EU country…. Just a normal day at the population register in an EU country which we will call “A” Public Servant : “Good morning, how may I help you ?” Citizen : “I recently moved and I would like to change my address in your administration.” Public Servant : [...]

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High Fixed Interest Margins in Romania

October 25, 2010

Last week an article appeared in the Romanian financial newspaper, Ziarul Financiar, with the title “How is it possible that in the year 2010 in Romania, an EU member state, the banks practice fixed margins of 9% for credits?”. Like many articles these days, it seemed to be written with the clear purpose of bashing [...]

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Not Serious Advice Taken Seriously

October 21, 2010

My first job in Romania was in 1993 when I worked for one year at the National Bank of Romania as consultant on the modernisation of the Romanain payment system. I was not new to Romania, having visited the country for the first time in 1985 and being married to my Romanian wife since 1986 [...]

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Bucharest Marathon, Ex Post

October 17, 2010

In my previous post I wrote about my plans and preparation for the Bucharest Marathon. In this post I’ll share my experience. A disclaimer first. The marathon is organized by my wife and my employer is the main sponsor Woke up at 6 as planned. Had a bad night by my standards, but a heartrate [...]

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The Making Of OUG 50

October 11, 2010

In a previous post I wrote more in depth about one specific aspect of Government Emergency Ordinance 50 (OUG 50) on consumer credit contracts. In this post I’ll point out that the process around OUG 50 was flawed and has led to poor regulation. I’ll not go into details about the content of OUG 50. [...]

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2010 Bucharest Marathon, Ex Ante

October 9, 2010

The Bucharest Marathon, one week to go. There is nothing I can do anymore to go faster but a lot I can do to go slower. I have a special relationship with this marathon. In the first place, Bucharest is the city in which I ran my first marathon, in 1994. In the second place, Raiffeisen [...]

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OUG 50 and Consumer Protection

September 16, 2010

For some time I have refrained from commenting on the Romanian implementation of EU Directive 2008/48 on Consumer Credit, Emergency Government Ordinance 50/2010 (OUG 50). The issues was being discussed between ANPC and ARB and the banks thought is was better not to comment publicly on this while this process was going on. In the meantime [...]

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Consumer Protection, But Which Consumers?

August 10, 2010

Recently we attended a wedding in Bucovina. The young couple lived in the USA but both were born in Romania and wanted to celebrate their religious wedding in Romania with their friends and relatives. At a moment during he day, the subject of housing came up. Proud and enthusiast the young couple told us that [...]

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